Shmup stinkers

[Obiwanshinobi]

I found a number of shmups being not enjoyable at all: Thunder Force III, IV and VI, Strike Gunner S.T.G. (arcade), Tyrian... Can't say I was trying hard to enjoy them, though. Still, when there's Hyper Duel out there, why would I try hard to enjoy Thunder Force?

[xris]

Blast Wind, people only defend it because they spent that much money on it. Xyanide, like a pretty girl that is so dumb you leave before you get her shirt off. Sol Divide, crappy in just about every way possible. Kof: Sky Stage, I'm embarassed that I hoped it would turn out good.

It really is amazing that the genre is full of games that are at least good, and fun in some way.

[dunpeal2064]

Waaa SNES Gradius III is too hard for me even with the most overpowered setup that puts out the max amount of sprites the system can handle as my firepower

Gradius 3 doesn't deserve to be called a "stinker" at all, except maybe the impossible arcade version (neither does Otomedius G, which is average but nowhere near unplayable). Star Parodia is at the opposite end of the difficulty spectrum, which I'd put on this list for being the most boring shmup ever. Even a blindfolded baby with downs syndrome could one-life that on their first go.

Never said it was too hard. I think its just silly to put something in your game that the system cannot handle. I mean, the damned thing was glitching so bad the boss had huge blotches of black pixel all across him

Mock me if you wish, but this port sucks. Nothing to do with me sucking at it, I suck WAY worse at Mushi Futari, and love the crap out of it

[Despatche]

Perhaps Gradius III would have been better on the Mega Drive.

[gs68]

Darius Twin. By far one of the most unpolished games in the series. also lol sudden spike in difficulty on the last stage

[Kollision]

Sol Divide seconded.
Pretentious piece of shit game, I hate it.

[Treasurance]

Touh...err, anything if played on MAME

[Ruldra]

Divine Sealing is the epitome of shit.

Gradius III on the SNES.

No.

Still better than the arcade version!

Hell no!

[dpful]

I am not a fan of Psikyo to begin with, tho I am not saying their games are bad (a bit cheap perhaps), but Sol Divide is total trash.

Turbo Force is pretty shit as well.

Well, there you go. Sol devide on the playstation is a stinker. My god.
I LOVE turboforce, though. Deep blue sucks.
I was typing on my iPhone before and ran out of time before I could thing of one that I honestly would decline to play ever again. Deep blue and sol decide (on turbo and psx).
I guess that to remember that a game sucks, it's got to have something apealing about it.

[dpful]

Whoah, some more: the snes thunderforce game. R-type final (battle ship stage to blame).
It's been years, but I don't know if I'd ever put the first psx2 shmup back In (forgot the name, it's the sequel to the sega cd game).

[Wonderbanana]

Air Buster
Every Amiga shmup

I like Air Buster; first game I ever played on a PC Engine.

And the Amiga wasn't all bad, the conversion of Silkworm is superb (I prefer it to the arcade) and Apidya is ok for what it is too. Banshee, Uridium 2, Z-Out, T-Zero and Dispoable Hero are all worth trying too.

[BPzeBanshee]

I found a number of shmups being not enjoyable at all: Thunder Force III, IV and VI, Strike Gunner S.T.G. (arcade), Tyrian... Can't say I was trying hard to enjoy them, though. Still, when there's Hyper Duel out there, why would I try hard to enjoy Thunder Force?

This is blasphemy.....THIS IS MADNESS!



T-T-T-Turbo Force is actually quite crappy for its annoying gameplay. I like the idea though, flying retrofitted cars.

Also, first person to mention Broken Thunder. It would be a good game if it weren't so broken.

[Aisha]

Going to go with Divine Sealing for the Mega Drive. Even the porn between the stages isn't any good.

[Drum]

Air Buster
Every Amiga shmup

I like Air Buster; first game I ever played on a PC Engine.

And the Amiga wasn't all bad, the conversion of Silkworm is superb (I prefer it to the arcade) and Apidya is ok for what it is too. Banshee, Uridium 2, Z-Out, T-Zero and Dispoable Hero are all worth trying too.

Sorry, just a random question for somebody who seems to know a thing or two about Amiga games: A long time ago I played a demo of an Amiga run and gun (on a demo disc of some magazine I can't recall the name of). I remember it having a pretty striking visual style, with a predominantly grey, black and red colour palette. It may have been post-apocalyptic, there may have been a large pterodactyl thing. If the full game was even released, it would have been around the end of the Amiga's lifetime as a viable system (around the time Shadow of the Beast III was put out). Any ideas?

[Obiwanshinobi]

A long time ago I played a demo of an Amiga run and gun (on a demo disc of some magazine I can't recall the name of). I remember it having a pretty striking visual style, with a predominantly grey, black and red colour palette. It may have been post-apocalyptic, there may have been a large pterodactyl thing.

The Chaos Engine? The SNES port was called Soldiers of Fortune.

[burgerkingdiamond]

Cho Aniki! It's a game that everyone should bear witness to because it's just fucking wacked out. But the gameplay is pretty awful.

[Drum]

A long time ago I played a demo of an Amiga run and gun (on a demo disc of some magazine I can't recall the name of). I remember it having a pretty striking visual style, with a predominantly grey, black and red colour palette. It may have been post-apocalyptic, there may have been a large pterodactyl thing.

The Chaos Engine? The SNES port was called Soldiers of Fortune.

Sorry, I fucked up - it's a Contra-style platform-shooter type run-and-gun. Did not make that clear at all.

[Skykid]

Mentioning of Divine Sealing has reminded me of Steam Hearts, which I'm sorry to say I own a Saturn copy of. It's painfully boring.
No way on earth Thunderforce series on the MD can be called stinkers though. They're great fun.

It really is amazing that the genre is full of games that are at least good, and fun in some way.

See, it's weird right?

We are building a fairly lengthy list now, but I'm still astounded by how many games in the genre can hold their own.
I think I'm going to have a weekend of emulation to try some of these for laughs.

And Cho Aniki is pretty weak too, actually, both the PCE and Saturn versions.

And Sol Divide +4 - can't believe they bundled that with Dragon Blaze like it was any good.

EDIT: Here's a compilation of all games noted (for my own reference if nothing else). I've added youtube links to all those I've watched. I'll get around to adding more later.
If a game has been disputed as not being rubbish by at least 2 forum members I've removed it from the list, and I've added this to the first post.

Ghost Pilots
X-Plan
D-Force
Gulf War 2
Tyrian
Sky Smasher
B-Wings
Raptor: Call of the shadows
Twin Eagle 2
MX5000
Silpheed (CoCo 2)
Raiden Trad (Snes)
Mission Craft
Magic girl
arbalester (Arcade)
Ether Vapor (This actually looks quite good? )
Planet Joker
Trevor McFur in the Crescent Galaxy
Fuzzy Shooting
Blue Hawk
Spectrum 2000
Stagger 1
Varia Metal
Pollux (Arcade)
Xenon 2
Legion
Rock On
Deep Blue
Terra Cresta 3D
Philosoma (PSX)
Gaia Seed (PSX)
Star Parodia (Too easy)
Silver Surfer
Sol Divide (Arc/Saturn/PS2)
Turbo Force
Strike Gunner S.T.G. (arcade)
Tyrian
Blast Wind
KOF: Sky Stage
Darius Twin
Divine Sealing
Thunder Force (Snes)
R-Type Final (PSX)
Broken Thunder
Cho Aniki (PCE)
Cho Aniki (Saturn)
Steam Hearts (PCE/Saturn)

[Wonderbanana]

Sorry, I fucked up - it's a Contra-style platform-shooter type run-and-gun. Did not make that clear at all.

Walker?.

Edit: From your description it could also be Wolfchild.

[Drum]

Nah, not Walker - it scrolled left-right and you were definitely a dude. Proportioned a bit like the Metal Slug characters iirc, but it's been sooo long.

[Wonderbanana]

Nah, not Walker - it scrolled left-right and you were definitely a dude. Proportioned a bit like the Metal Slug characters iirc, but it's been sooo long.

Try Wolfchild video above, it that matches all you said plus has a large peri, pero *dinosaur* in it

[EinhanderZwei]

Why so much hate towards Tyrian? It's one of the most awesome shmups I've ever played. It may be short on competitive factor (scoring, etc.), but the story and shopping stuff are superb (because this game was never released in arcades, meaning that it wasn't intended to). Great shmup for noobs, actually!

My shitcakes go to Thunder Force 4, Steam Hearts on PCE, crappy sequels like Image Fight 2 and Super R-Type, and of course all NES arcade ports except of, maybe, Gradius 1/2 and Life Force. There's a hell load of great NES-exclusive shmups, though

May be off topic, but I never got why Space Harrier is so popular. It may've been original for its time, but After Burner is stories superior to it IMO

[Drum]

Wonderbanana: I don't *think* that's it but it has a lot in common with how I remember the game being. I'll give it a play and see if it brings back any memories. Thanks!

[Skykid]

Hmm, that Ether Vapor looks ok in the vids?

[Drum]

May be off topic, but I never got why Space Harrier is so popular. It may've been original for its time, but After Burner is stories superior to it IMO

They're both rotten, indefensible games but at least Space Harrier has some mental imagery. Loses points for having bonus levels in a game where score is worse than useless though.

[Wonderbanana]

May be off topic, but I never got why Space Harrier is so popular.

[Drum]

May be off topic, but I never got why Space Harrier is so popular.

Death of arcades right there >:(

[Skykid]

Death of arcades right there >:(

Stop now or this will go off topic. Space Harrier ain't even a traditional shmup, put it in the Yu Suzuki's an asshole thread.

[Drum]

Yu Suzuki isn't an asshole - assholes are useful. Not to mention creative.

[Drum]

Ok ok, I'm done. Ignore the above and let's stay on-topic.

Has anybody mentioned Battle Garegga?